Shut It Down: The GenOn Potomac River Coal Plant

Last night, 1,000 concerned citizens of all ages came together at the entrance of theGenOn Potomac River Coal Plant in Alexandria, VA to demand its resignation. Environmentalists like Bill McKibben and Mike Tidwell joined hands with poets like E. Ethelbert Miller and Common Cause’s President Rev. Bob Edgar in a full moon, nighttime vigil at the plant’s heavily guarded entrance.

The common cheer from activists and regular neighbors alike was “Shut It Down, Shut It Down!” Why? The plant provides zero power to Alexandria, or any DC metropolitan source for that matter. In fact, it runs only at 18% operational capacity – on standby – slowly burning mountain top removal coal for absolutely no reason at all. The resulting pollution spews into the Potomac River daily, on which it sits, and pumps over 1 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. The local community, in partnership with the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and others, has been fighting this illogical, waterfront eyesore and blight for over a decade.